How to install the ASP.NET 2.0 DotNetNuke 4.3.1

How to install the ASP.NET 2.0 DotNetNuke 4.3.1 on DiscountASP.NET servers
Requirements:

- ASP.NET 2.0
- Visual Web Developer (VWD)
- SQL Express if you intend to develop on your local machine



1) Download the starter kit on your computer from http://asp.net/downloads/starterkits.



2) Unzip the DotNetNuke souce zip file.


3) Update the Web.config file

- Comment out the following:



<connectionStrings>
<!-- Connection String for SQL Server 2005 Express -->
<add name='SiteSqlServer' connectionString='Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User

Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;' providerName='System.Data.SqlClient' />
</connectionStrings>



- Add the following:



<connectionStrings>
<add name='SiteSqlServer' connectionString='Data Source=<sql server name>.discountasp.net;Integrated Security=False;Initial Catalog=<DB_Name>;User

ID=<DB_User>;Password=<DB_Pass>' providerName='System.Data.SqlClient' />
</connectionStrings>



Also,replace the following,



<appSettings>
<add key='SiteSqlServer' value='Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|Database.mdf;'/>
</appSettings>



with



<appSettings>
<add key='SiteSqlServer' value='Server=<sql server name>.discountasp.net;Database=<DB_Name>;uid=<db_user>;pwd=<DB_password>;' />
</appSettings>



4) Upload all the source files to our web server.For more information see http://kb.discountasp.net/article.aspx?id=10364.

5)Attach the '\App_Data\Database.mdf' database to the DB specified in your connectionstring's (Step 3) using 'MS SQL Tool Suite' from within your Control Panel.


6) Using the Web Application tool configure the application folder as a web application using the Web Application Tool in the control panel.For more

information on Web Application Tool see :http://kb.discountasp.net/article.aspx?id=10181.





6)Using your web browser,open default.aspx,DotNetNuke will setup all the database objects when it first loads.This may take several minutes.


Note:The dotNetNuke Starter Kit 4.3.1 does not need renaming of release.config ,since it has a web.config file along with release.config file.

Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

Post Edited (vvsharma) : 11/21/2006 8:37:11 PM GMT

 

I have followed the instructions set out above andgot the website installed onthe server. The problem is when I load the website i get the following error messages:


AboutUs page
An error has occurred.
Error:About Us is currently unavailable.


Productspage
A critical error has occurred.
Value cannot be null. Parameter name: connectionString

Contact Us page
An error has occurred.
Error: Contact Us is currently unavailable.


GuestBook page
An error has occurred.
Error: GuestBook is currently unavailable.

 

Did you get the installation Page?If yes,was it successfull?It seems there is an issue with your connection string.Please make sure ,it is exactly as follows with appropriate values replaced.And there should be only one instance of the same,not two.

<add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Data Source=<sql server name>.discountasp.net;Integrated Security=False;Initial Catalog=<DB_Name>;User
ID=<DB_User>;Password=<DB_Pass>" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />




Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

 

I installed DNN 4.3.3 according to your instructions (12238).


When I open the site, everything in the home page is unavailable. I can log as admin, I can also register a new user but I can't edit text. So, something went wrong.


Do you have an idea of how i can make this thing work ?


YV

 

hi bruce,

The home page shows up butthe content ofeach panelis displayed as "An error as occured" Error: <Welcome to my website...> is currently unavailable. The same message occurs in each panel except for the name of the panel ( Links, OpenSource...)

I can actually, log in as admin or as host, i was able to change some parameters as host. If i want to add a link or change a text in one of the panel, i receive the message: "An error as occured...Error:Edit Text/HTML is currently unavailable."

It looks like some parts of the database is missing or "unavailable" or secured or else....

I made the set-up exactly as told in the message from vvsharma with a plain fresly downloaded directory from DNN.

Thanks,
YV

 

I fixed the problem by changing the connection string, i'm not at my work machine right now, but will post the new string later.

 

Where can i find a up-to-date documentation on how to build connection strings in differents environnements ? It is a kind a fussy logic hit or miss procedure or is it more solidly based ? How your new string (to come) solves the problem ?


YV

 

I just re-installed DNN according to 12238 with then connection string given by Vikram and i get the same result. Take a look at www.restekconsu.org/DNN/Restek/; it is a plain unprotected DNN first hit site.

The connection string used is the following :

<add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString ="Data Source=tcp:sql2k503.discountasp.net;Integrated Security=False;Initial Catalog=SQL2005_242248_restekconsu;User ID=SQL2005_242248_restekconsu_user;Password=r7st7kyv" providerName ="System.Data.SqlClient"/>

To get a deeper look, i inspected the installed database with SQL SMSE. The dbo.links table should contain 10 entries to display in the links panel on the home page. This table is empty. I suspect that the installation program was unable to write in the database at least on some tables (?)

On a local installation of the 4.3.4 DNN, the database weights 10+MB, on the remote site it weights 3+MB (?)

By the way, how can I delete rapidly an entire directory. The file manager way is very slow and prone to errors.

Thanks again

YV

 

Looking at your connection string


connectionString ="Data Source=tcp:sql2k503.discountasp.net
why do you have tcp: before the server name ??


Ian Houghton
------------------
http://www.ianhoughton.co.uk
http://www.rising-sun-software.co.uk

 

Hi Ian,

It is a suggestion of Vikram. I have nothing to loose trying it....

YV

 

Sorry it took so long. Here is my connection string that fixed the problem.


<add name="SiteSqlServer" connectionString="Data Source=<server>.discountasp.net;Integrated Security=False;Initial Catalog=<database>;User ID=<username>;Password=<password>" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />


<add key="SiteSqlServer" value="Data Source=<server>.discountasp.net;Integrated Security=False;Initial Catalog=<database>;User ID=<username>;Password=<password>;"/>



Ian Houghton
------------------
http://www.ianhoughton.co.uk
http://www.rising-sun-software.co.uk

Post Edited (IanHoughton) : 8/29/2006 8:07:05 AM GMT

 

Well our server only supports TCP and your development environment may use some other protocol by default ,so to avoid any kind of issues with the connection its better to explicitly specify it within your connection string byt using "tcp:"

Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

 

To solve the ConnectionString issue we have provided you with a connection string within MS SQL 2000/2005 Management(Control Panel)that corresponds to your subscribed DB.Well are you still having the "Page Unavailable " problem?

Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

 

Is somebody ever installed DNN 4.3.4 /SQL2005on DiscountAsP.net with success. If so, i will be very pleased to know exactly how it was done. If not, what version(s) has been installed successfully.

 

Mine was a 4.3.4 / SQL2005 install, after correcting the web.config file with the conn string above, everything worked ok.


Check out http://www.rising-sun-software.co.uk for the proof !!!



Ian Houghton
------------------
http://www.ianhoughton.co.uk
http://www.rising-sun-software.co.uk

 

Ian,


I see that yours sites work perfectly. Bravo.


I just reset my directories and my database. Tech support did it for me.


I started from a blank, neat and fresh environment, i followed vikram instructions with the required conn. string.


I still get the same thing.


Please take a look at www.restekconsu.org/restek


I am confused (and not very happy) still my client is waiting...


Thanks


Yves

 

We tried DNN 4.3.4 and it works fine with DASP.I guess you should clear your database and start from the scratch.Also remember dont run DNN locally before you upload the DASP server,since while installing it makes changes to your database.
Just Unzip the package ,make changes to web.config and upload everything.Dont attach Database.mdf ,the installation process creates the DBschema.

See :http://kb.discountasp.net/article.aspx?id=10382 for Instructions!!







Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

Post Edited (vvsharma) : 9/2/2006 8:14:49 PM GMT

 

I ask tech. support to clear the database.


I will try according to your last message asap.


Do i have to change anything on the database (security, permissions, login...) before installing DNN ?


Yves

 

Nothing does it...


I get the same old story...


see : http://www.restekconsultants.org/DNN/default.aspx


????





YV

Post Edited (YvesV) : 9/5/2006 6:36:44 PM GMT

 

No ,you dont have to explicitly change anything on the database.

Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

 

Everything worked really well for me also.


Thanks for the article.


BUT, i have no idea what my host password is and smtp is not setup yet!


I tried this article to run a sp to reset the password http://support.ihostasp.net/Customer/KBArticle.aspx?articleid=44


but it hadno effect, can anyone help ?

 

Can you please tell me in step 5 what control panel are you talking about, discoundASP.net control panel or VWD2005 control panel? how do I get to the control panel where I may attach the Database.mdf file
Is it theODBC Tool. If so what do I put in theData Source Name [ ]


Budget Web Design Australia
www.budgetwebdesign.com.au

 

The step 5 refers to your DASP Control Panel.Goto , Database Management> MS SQL 200X> SQL Tool Suite>'Attach Data File'. Specify the path w.r.t your application root.

Vikram

DiscountASP.NET
www.DiscountASP.NET

 

I am about to upload the "\more2life\App_Data\Database.mdf" and it looks a bit scary how it says all existing data in the database will be overwritten!!!!!!!!!!!


- So I will loose all of my work and accounts that have gone in to this database hay, just because I want to test a DotNetNuke site...
Will I be able to add the accounts again with the ASP.NET Configuration in my Visual web developer with out disturbing the \more2life\App_Data\Database.mdf

I dont like this, and I cant afford another database



Budget Web Design Australia
www.budgetwebdesign.com.au

 

Script to redirect domain pointer to DotNetNuke subdirectory?

DASP recommends installing DNN in a subdirectory rather than in the root directory, and DASP doesn't point domain names to subdirectories, i.e., domain names can only point to the root directory.

So somehow there has to be a way for the domain name to connect to the DNN subdirectory, the DNN application and web.config file, in order to eventually hook up with the Portal Alias that corresponds to the domain name.

This topic does not appear in the KB article on installing DNN.
http://kb.discountasp.net/article.aspx?id=10382

What is the script recommended by DASP to accomplish this?

For example, in my case I have two domain names, they are both root pointers:

Albigen.Com - I want to keep this as the root domain because I have various applicationsrunning in it.
Albigen.Net - I want this domain name to be directed to my DNN subdirectory.

DNN is installed in subdirectorynamed "/portal"

I want the URL to appear as www.albigen.net and not as www.albigen.net/portal

I curently have a script in the default.aspx file in my root directory that says if the Request contains the string "albigen.net", the request should be directed to "/portal". I won't post the script because I don't want to muddy the waters -the script is not working as expected.

Will you pleaserecommend a script to use, either specific to my case or generic, or point me to a resource at DASP that discusses this? Thank you.

 

Their is a 2 step process to this. One is you will need to create a redirect script then perform a URL rewrite so that the domain name does not change to mydomain.com/subdirectory.

Try referencing this kb article on how to do a redirect. http://kb.discountasp.net/article.aspx?id=10102

And then take a look at these links for doing URL Rewrites.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972974.aspx
http://www.codeproject.com/aspnet/urlrewriter.asp

 

Thank you, I have read those articles. What I need is a rewriter rule. In generic terms


www.mydomain.com/dotnetnuke


needs to be rewritten as www.mydomain.com


which will correspond to the portal alias.


It would seem that every DASP customer using the installation you require/recommend* must use this rule.
Appreciate your help.



* Domain pointer to root; DNN installationin subdirectory; portal alias set to domain name (without subdirectory); script to direct the request to DNN subdirectory.